§ Mr. Millanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many people in England and Wales suffered 287W complete loss of hearing as a result of trauma in the last year for which figures are available; and what facilities for rehabilitation and training are available for them.
§ Mr. WhitneyI regret that the statistics requested are not available centrally. We encourage a multi-disciplinary approach to the problems encountered by traumatically deafened people and many disciplines, such as hearing therapists, speech therapists and specialist social workers may be involved in their rehabilitation and training. The full range of the Manpower Services Commission's rehabilitation and training facilities are also available to deaf and partially hearing people. In the voluntary sector, the Link centre for deafened people is able to offer specialised residential assistance.